Managing Depression as the Days Grow Grayer

The shorter days and cold months of winter often make managing depression harder. Find out how to beat back winter blues.

They don’t call them the winter doldrums for nothing. Losing
precious sunlight hours during the long winter months can affect anyone’s mood.
Factor in depression, particularly seasonal affective disorder (SAD), and
getting through those winter days could be your toughest time of year.

However, having the winter blues isn’t the same as having
depression or SAD. Feeling down during the winter and having seasonal funks are
common, but they’re not all diagnosable, says Simon Rego, PsyD, an associate
professor of clinical psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Albert
Einstein College of Medicine and director of psychology training and the Cognitive Behavioral
Therapy Training Program at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City.

If you’re experiencing true depression — and SAD is
a subtype of depression — it will disrupt your daily life,
interfering with your responsibilities at home and work, Rego explains. For
those with major depression and SAD, there are steps you can take to help
manage your condition during the winter months. It begins with recognizing how
the changing seasons can affect you.

Understanding the
Seasonal Connection

The main difference between depression and SAD is that
depression lasts all year and SAD is a depression that lasts through the wintertime
and begins to let up when spring hits, only to repeat again the following year.

However, even if you’re already living with depression, it
may get worse during the winter. This is partly because the decline in sunlight
and cold weather tend to make people want to stay inside and alone more often,
Rego says.

Experts aren’t sure exactly why lack of sunlight brings on
depression in some people, but they point to certain brain chemicals. Part of
the theory is that sunlight affects the hypothalamus, the part of the brain
that influences your mood, sleep
patterns, and appetite.

Sunlight is also related to the release of the
neurotransmitter serotonin. Less sunlight means there’s less serotonin in your
system, which may lower your mood. The hormone melatonin is produced by the
pineal gland when it’s dark outside to help you go to sleep, so when days are
shorter and darkness comes earlier, you may have more melatonin in your system.
Having a higher level of melatonin during the winter causes people with SAD to
feel tired and less motivated.

Circadian rhythms may also be involved. That’s the way the
body responds to light and darkness over the course of the day and night. Your
circadian rhythms influence your sleep patterns.

Managing Depression
and SAD

Your emotional health doesn’t have to be at the mercy of the
calendar. The dark, cold days of winter can still bring good feelings if you
get a game plan in place ahead of time.

Try these five tips to lessen the effect that winter may
have on your depression:

Soak up the sun
whenever possible. There’s less sunshine to enjoy during the winter, but
make a point of getting outside and taking a walk when the sun is shining and
the weather permits. When you are inside, Rego suggests keeping your blinds
open and sitting next to a window while you work.

Invest in a light box. Research has found that for some people, light therapy has a significant effect
on how severe depression feels during the winter. Experts recommend being
exposed to the light for 30 to 120 minutes a day from the time of your first
symptoms until you begin feeling better in the spring.

Stay active. It’s
a bad idea to change your daily routine in response to a low mood, Rego says.
If you stop socializing, become more sedentary, and spend more time inside
alone, your mood will most likely suffer.
Think of the winter as a great time to try some new indoor activities, like a
family game night or a winter sport. Shoveling the driveway even counts.

Bolster your therapy.
As you enter the winter months, it’s important to maintain the depression
treatment already prescribed by your doctor. If you don’t already see a
therapist regularly, make it a priority to see one during the winter months,
Rego suggests. Cognitive behavioral therapy, in particular, has been found to
be effective for depression and SAD.

Seek out warmer
climates. “Changing my atmosphere helped a lot,” says Katrina Starzhynskaya, author of the book Katrina’s
Recovery. She had depression for three years while suffering from
Lyme disease. Her depression lasted all year, but wintertime were especially challenging
for her. One of her solutions was to take weekend trips when possible,
especially to sunny places such as Florida. If you take an annual family
vacation, consider planning it in January or February to battle your declining
mood.

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